Thursday, June 29, 2006

Fifty years ago Helen Merrill and the Gil Evans Orchestra made one of their famous recordings. These recordings, made 26 and 29th of June should belong to te core-collection of every jazz collection. It is said that thanks to these recordings Helen Merrill ( and Oscar Pettiford on bass) got their place in jazz history. Flugelhorn player Art Farmer sounds with his muted sound in perfect balance with Helen's voice. Gil Evans, great arranger, became famous with this kind of projects. Well known is his cooperation with Miles Davis on several recordings.

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Toshiko Akiyoshi was born more then 76 years ago in Dairen, China. She studied classical music and moved to Japan in 1947 where she turned to jazz music. When Oscar Peterson visited Japan he liked her piano playing and encouraged her to go to Berklee College of Music in Boston (US) where she became a bop pianist. She married Charlie Mariano and played in his bands. In 1973 she met Lew Tabackin who became her second husband. The albums they made together became hits in Japan and in 1980 Tabackin and Akiyoshi started a big band. Toshiko made the arrangements in the Gil Evans - Thad Jones tradition. In 1985 they formed the Toshiko Akiyoshi New York Jazz Orchestra.

Last night I found a CD in my CD player called Time Stream by Toshiko Akiyoshi. It was recorded ten years ago with her trio, Toshiko Akiyoshi (p) - George Mraz (b) - Lewis Nash (dm), and several guests like Jim Snidero on alto, Gary Foster on alto and of course her husband Lew Tabackin on tenor and flute. This album sounds great - Toshiko playes in a very strong bop piano tradition which I like very much and the rhythm section belongs to the best there is. The arrangements are well done with some oriental touches now and then which makes it full of surprises and varied.I heard her in a solo concert in December 2001 at the Porgy en Bess jazz club in Terneuzen ( The Netherlands) where she impressed me with her Bud Powell piano style. She told us about her meetings and friendship with Bud Powell when she was in Paris around 1960. After the concert she autographed her CD for me and we had some small talk about the concert. I remember she set apart in her dressing-room and talked to us one-by-one.

Her piano playing and the meeting in Terneuzen impressed me and by listening to the music last night I got that same experience again. Thanks to New Groove Dictionary of JazzDon´t forget to visit our choro music blog spot which contains new contributions of Jørgen Larsen.

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Thanks to Patrick I enjoyed the music of the John Coltrane Atlantic Sessions. One of the first albums Coltrane recorded for Atlantic was Bags and Trane. At this session John Coltrane and Milt Jackson made a surprisingly complementary team.

Milt Jackson was one of the greatest improvisers on the vibe and developed it into bebop music. His quartet became wellknown as the Modern Jazz Quartet, the most popular small jazz group of the second half of the XXst century and lasted for almost 40 years.John Coltrane , I don't think he has to be introduced, was on the eve of his breakthrough with albums like Giant Steps. This session, 15 January 1959, was their one and only recording.

In the late 1950s it seemed to be popular to bring two musicians together and record the gathering. Their are several examples of this kind of records in my collection: Ben Webster meets Gerry Mulligan, Stan Getz and J.J. Johnson, or Gets with Bill Evans and Oscar Peterson. For me it seems that the popularity of these duo-specials coincide with the development of stereo recordings. In these first stereo recordings the two stars were seperated completely, so if you listen to these tunes the two stars have their own sound channels.

If you have the opportunity listen to this great recording - I liked it, especially the way Milt Jackson plays the ballads. Listen to a fragment of Centerpiece by clicking on the title bar. More fragments at this site

Sunday, June 25, 2006

A discussion on internet (78-list) brings good oldFats Wallerback in spotlight. Most visitors of the list adore him - some name him an overrated pianist and dislike his ugly and unjazzy voice.

In my 20s I was a great fan of his music and the way he performed in his shows and concerts. I collected all his records ( RCA Black and White series) and as I didn't had much money to spend, collecting was for me gathering these LPs on my reel-to-reel recorder. Some years ago, Julian, I found the two RCA Fats Waller Memorial boxes ( in the 1970s the boxes were much to expensive for me) and I was tempted to buy it although I had all the music on tape already.

I remember the first time that I saw the four Fats Waller soundies.That was an exiting experience for a young adult.It must have been at the Cineac in Rotterdam (a movie-theatre) and it was billed as Ain't Misbehavin'I don't remember details of that film, but it was a clumsy compilation exploiting current attitudes to nostalgia and sex, utilising clips from features, shorts and newsreels ( from Jazz In The Movies - David Meeker). It contained the Waller clips and some more entertainers. I remember especially the sex scenes as it did fascinate me as a young adult and so the music of Fats Waller got an extra dimension for me !!

AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’ (1974)UK 1974 – f dir Peter Neal, Anthony SternSongs: (recorded): "Honeysuckle Rose" byAndy Razaf, Fats Waller, "Ain’t misbehavin’"by Andy Razaf, Fats Waller, Harry Brooks,performed by Fats Waller; "Ain’t gonna beyour dog" performed by Meade Lux Lewis;"Cabaret echoes" performed by AnthonyParenti’s Famous Melody Boys; "I’m a shyguy" by and performed by Nat King Cole; "Boogie Woogie" performed by Albert Ammons; "Please be kind" by Sammy Cahn, SaulChaplin, "The man I love" by Ira and GeorgeGershwin, performed by Django Reinhardt; "Londonola" performed by Roy Fox and hisOrchestra.(Source: Jazz In The Movies - David Meeker)Enjoy the short film Ain't Misbehavion' by clicking on the title bar;

Monday, June 19, 2006

When I was in my 20s I remember I had a Joker LP from the Memphis Jug Bands. The primitive sounds of these long forgotten bands gave me a feeling that jazz music founds its origin in this primitive music.

At a record fair I found a Memphis Jug Band CD ( label: Wolf WBCD-004 ) with recordings from Memphis groups from the late 1920s. This kind of hodge podge collection of associates and alternate takes contains recordings of Will Weldon, Vol Stevens, Will Shade, Minie Wallace, Hattie Hart, Kaiser Clifton and Jenny Pope - all forgotten blues men that lived in or around Memphis. The other tracks are alternative takes from the Memphis Jug Bands.

Memphis was in the 1920s an important city of commercial importance along the Mississippi. All great highways and railroads met in the city. The music was influenced by the ragtime from St. Louis in the north, the jazz from New Orleans and Chicago along the river and the blues from the Delta triangle. The music developed to the typically jug bands, poor blacks who expressed their feelings using the instruments they had at hand. The music they made was very related to the blues.

To be honest, it's not the music I love to hear when I awake. It remembers me to the time my brother and I were playing three-chord blues themes at the kazoo, piano and guitar.

These primitive recorded sounds,transferred from rare recordings, have some interest from a historical point of view. The transfers are poor, the quality of the records used are less then moderate. If I compare this music with, let's say the Les Loups recordings of the same period, it's easy to make a choice.Les Loups would win !!

Sunday, June 18, 2006

Yves Francois Smierciak sent an extensive reaction to the 78-L list and he allowed me to post it here.Hans, this one (and all of us here at 78L should have known that I would jump on this one!) interests me very much. Not all Choro developed on string instruments, as you well know. The earliest recorded Afro Diaspora instrumentalist was the legendary flutist Pixinguinha in 1911 (before Jim Europe's ensemble with Cricket Smith by 2 years) recorded on Favorite Records 1.450006 (and reissued on Fremeaux FA 66 "Choro" 1906/1947), and if you listen to the recording Sao Joao Debaixo D'Agua, you can really hear the similarity between this music and the New Orleans music of, say, Jelly Roll Morton (note the oficleide* parts polyphony to Pixinguinha's flute lead) even more than the string players (not to knock some of the greatest string musicians came from the Choro tradition, Jacob do Bandolim and Joao Pernambuco are two of dozens of great players). Indeed,several recordings made in the 1946/7 era were recorded when he switched to tenor sax and had Benedito Lacerda on flute (the immortal recording 1X0 is from this series), also have the polyphonic tendencies of New Orleans jazz or Biguine (from Martinique, try Stellio's recordings from 1929/31 on Fremeaux, or the remarkable trumpeter Abel Beauregard's few recordings with Orchestre Creole Matou from 1934 or so). Of course Choro did develop as a quieter form of music than their louder New Orleans cousins (there is little trumpet in Brazil's early improvised music, though Pixinguinha ensembles did have trumpets off and on from 1922 onwards, I do not know if the 1922/3 ensemble recorded with the added horns, and if it did, was it polyphonic, the 1930's recordings were not in the same tradition, more martial or big band, and the traditions of music give a musician like Luis Americano a cooler tone on clarinet than his counterparts in

The instrument oficleide is a brass instrument with a sound not unlike a baritone horn or trombone, was popular in both Cuban and early Choro groups, disappeared for some reason in the 1920's. ( see the image )Martinique, Haiti or New Orleans, but I find Choro, along with early Cuban Danzones and Biguines to be the recorded proof that while New Orleans Jazz unique, it is far from the only creole (using this maligned term as an ethno linguist here, I am referring to the way two languages of music form a common ground to communicate with, like Biguine, New Orleans Jazz or Choro, much like a language like Lingala from the port areas of Congo made it easier for the various people there to communicate with each other)improvised art form, and it makes sense that musicians from these backgrounds could become great jazz men with the same passions that musicians from the USA could.Hans (and anyone else interested in this music), have you checked the entire series on Fremeaux regarding music from Brazil, there are excellent recordings from 1906 to 1954 on about 6 2Cd sets, varied musics and all of great interest,

Yves Francois Smierciak

Thanks Yves Francois for your extensive contribution. Anyone who feels he has to share something about our common passions if invited to send me his . hers contributions.Hans

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Choro is the soul of Brazilian music is one of those quotes that is used to write about this music.

It was founded in the late 1800s around Rio de Janeiro as a music style that combined European dance music, like walzes and polka's with African rhythms as played by former slaves from Africa.If you read this, it gives me a feeling that I read these lines before in books about the origin of jazz. Choro means crying in Portugueze - what is the meaning of the word Blues? Choro is mostly instrumental, it gives a lot of space for improvisation and virtuosity, like jazz music. The typically Choro instruments are the guitar, the seven-string guitar (it is, in fact playing the bass part), the cavaquinho. a small guitar of Portuguese origin, used to play solos, the pandeiro, a kind of tambourine instrument, that gives the swinging rhythm. In the early times flute and clarinet were popular as solo instruments, later more instruments could be used for that part.If you compare Choro with jazz music you'll find more interesting facts both styles have in common.Maybe that's the reason that it felt very familiar when I heard a live choro band playing ( in my case Choro Brazil Scandinavia) for the very first time in July 2005 in Copenhagen.

Jørgen, who introduced me to that concert (thanks again Jo), wrote a very interesting article about this music. He introduces choro music using some of the recordings he has in his collection. If names like Pixinguinha, Jaco do Bandolim or Garoto make you anxious don't miss it. Enjoy it.

Friday, June 16, 2006

The Tiger Rag is probably the most known jazz tune ever made. The Original Dixieland Jass Band was the first white band to record it in 1917. In those 90 years the tune was recorded thousand times and became a standard tune in traditional jazz. It must have become one of the most recorded tunes in jazz repertoire, together with the St. Louis Blues.

As the tune is well known and so often played it seems not very interesting to listen to it anymore, so if it's on a record or CD you hear it somewhere in your subconsciousness and maybe you recognize the differents between recording thanks to the breaks.

Last night I listened to an early Blue Note recording of Sidney Bechet when I heard strange noises in the breaks of the Tiger Rag. It looked like an animal in the rutting season. Well, I was used to all kinds of roaring lions or tigers during the performance of this tune, but this sound was new to me.

A little research learned me that the noises were made by Freddie Moore, the drummer man, who uses a broken head which he roars into an old snare drum. He alsways took this head with him.

Isn't that nice?

This Tiger Rag was one of the first segment of tunes that were recorded by Sidney Bechet for Blue Note associated with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band. It became a relaxed version with Sidney Bechet on soprano, Wild Bill Davison on cornet, Art Hodes at the piano, Walter Page at the bass and Fred Moore using the drum sticks and ....... a broken head. ( Recorded 21 Jan. 1949 )

This Bechet version is a full instrumental ones, but there are also vocal versions. If you want to sing along with the Tiger rag find the words here and sing it at the top of your voice.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

You're complete right, Jo, the quote was from Charles Mingus.I found it on a double CD made by Proper in the series Dejavu Retro JazzCharles Mingus Works 1951-1977.

Charles Mingus is a colourfull figure like Monk. I remember I had an LP or a tape with Mingus music I played all day when I was in my 20s, although I don't remember which one. The music, like Monk's, seemed to be addictive.

I remember to have seen a documentary, called Mingus, about a certain period in his life. In the autumn of 1966 he had rent an apartement ( as a studio for music, painting, sculpture, and other art purposes ) and he had to leave the place, as the owner of the apartement wanted to move into the place himself. The films shows an outcast addicted to drugs and alcohol, living in the middle of unpacked boxes, rubbish and other mess all indications of a licentious life filled with mental problems. It has been some times ago that I saw this documentary, but I remember how he demonstrates his gun by shooting in the ceiling before removed by the police. In the biography Myself When I'm RealGene Santoro writes about this incident. He felt discriminated by the color of his skin and was a member or sympathizer of the Black Power movement. He had written a letter to the governor Nelson Rockefeller and the president of the US, Lyndon B. Johnson reading: I'm Charles Mingus. Half black man, yellow man, half yellow, not even yellow, not even white enough to pass for nothing but black, and not too light to be called white. I claim that I am a Negro. Charles Mingus is a musician, mongrel musician who plays beautiful, who plays ugly, who plays lovely, who plays masculine, who plays feminine, who plays music, who plays off sounds, sounds, solid sounds, sounds, sounds, sounds ... a musician who loves to play with sound.

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues

While searching to the meaning of the titles Nica's Tempo I found the weird Thelonious Monk title Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues sometimes also written as Blues Bolivar Ba-lues-are.

This tune was recorded in New York City, 9 Oct. 1956 for Riverside with the Thelonious Monk Quintet, featuring Ernie Henry on alto sax, Sonny Rollins on tenor, Monk at the piano, Oscar Pettiford at the bass and Max Roach on drums.

Monk was a great piano player, but pretty weird sometimes. But few people could manage his behaviours, he would lock himself up for days with no more then his piano and at concerts everybody hoped that he would show up or, at least, would be in time.Nica, full name Baronnness Pannonica De Koenigswarter, the woman who became patroness of several musicians, took pity on Monk and gave him a place to sleep or study and organised his tours.In 1956 there was an incident the tune derived its name. The biography Straight, No Chaser ( The Life And Genius Of Thelonious Monk) by Leslie Gourse reads Blues Bolivar Ba-lues-are is a blues named for the Hotel Bolivar, where Nica rented a suite, after she left the Stanhope and then the Algonquin hotels. The Algonquin had objected to Monk's wandering around the lobby in a bright red shirt, Nica said. Monk's appearance had frightened some guests, who packed and left. Of course this story smells to racial prejudice.

Wouldn't it be nice to make a data base with all background stories of tune titles? Suggestions welcome !

Monday, June 12, 2006

Hi I just got some Durium childrens records. They look like the 10 inch ones but these are only 4 inches in size. They are really cute . One is titled Durium Mother Goose pt 1 Old King Cole byFrank Luthur. #5072312 on the back is pictured Lil Bo Peep, Jack and Jill, Old King Cole himself :) anyone know what dates these were made?

Thanks Henry

My reply: Sure.

The do-it-yourself method:

Go to

http://durium.opweb.nl ( The online Hit of the week Discographies )Insert into the window the catalogue number or, in this case, the matrix number ( = 5072 ) ( yours don't read 5072312, but 5072 B 12, maybe without spaces. B = take number. 12 the stamper number.)SearchEnjoy page http://durium.opweb.nl/durium5000e.htm

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Today we received a message from our niece Kristien, who is now in Nicaragua for a training period for her school of acting. Knowing about my passion she promised to search for some Nica Jazz, but up to now without any results. She confronted one of the stage-managers, Yulio, with the music of Billie Holiday and he wasn't used to the voice, but told her he liked it.

To be honest, Kristien, I don't know anything about Nica Jazz. Maybe you can do some research overthere. Although enough music comes from that area that can be labeled as jazz ( think about the Afro-Cuban Jazz, the music of the Buena Vista Social Club with musicans like Compay Segundo and Ibrahim Ferrer ) it seems to be focussed on Cuba. Oh, sure, there are some great musicans born in Latin America, likeMichel CamiloandMario Riverain the Dominican Republic,Ruben Bladesin Panama,Juan Tizoland David Sanchezare fromPuerto RicoandCarlos Santanois Mexican born; no one seems to have his roots in Nicaragua.

Gigi Gryce, the bebop alto saxophone player, composed and performed a beautiful tune called Nica's Tempo. He wrote it for Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in the 1950s. It is likely that this tune was named after Baronness Pannonica De Koenigswarter, Nica for short, a very rich lady who loved jazz and became a patroness of many bebop musicans like Parker and Monk, but maybe it was named after Nicaragua,refering to the daily life as you describe in herblogspot.I'll try to find out today. !!So I played this tune today.This tune Nica's Tempo as played by the Quartet of Gigi Gryce in October 1955 is for me one of his best recordings. Mind that Gigi's quartet is a dream team with Thelonious Monk on piano, Percy Heath on bass and Art Blakey on drums. I don't think a better rhythm section is to be found in the 1950s.

Wish you all the best and enjoy ..... Nica's Tempo.the tempo of Nica's daily life . Thanks Kristien, for your message and for your informative blogspotCorrie - Hans

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Phonycord is one of those rare flexible record labels from the early 1930s. I love to share my small collection with you.They were originally produced in Germany and later in England ( P-series). They are flexible and made of a shiny celluloid material. The German issues contain Artiphone material, the English releases masters from the US Grey Gull recordings. There are also English productions. The German records were issued in 1930 and have the catalogue numbers 1 up to 691, but there are also numbers in the 2000, 3000, 4000, 6000 and 8000 range. The English have a catalogue number between P-74 up to P-135 and were released December 1930 up to April 1931. I do have a test record from the P-series (matrices P-108 and P-129) (source: Dance Band Encyclopidea)

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

This Herb Geller LP, I found some month ago at a record fair is one of the earliest examples of his own Quartet. As the title suggests Condoli / Vines, his quartet has been enlarged to a sextet for this recording.

Herb Geller lives now-a-days in Germany and has been a appreciated and skilled jazz saxophone player in bands like the Kenny Clarke - Francy Boland Big Band. I heard him at a performance (scroll to last item) ( 13 Oct. 2002 ) with the Rein de Graaff trio at Porgy en Bess in Terneuzen ( The Netherlands) and his performance made an impression to me.

He was inspired, first by Kenny Clarke and later by Charlie Parker. He started his professional carreer with Joe Venuti, came to New York at the age of 21, played with Jack Fina's Band and Claude Thornhill.He married piano player Lorraine Walsh - she's the piano player at this recording. Two years, after this recording his wife Lorraine died. In 1962 he left the US to live and work in Europe.At this quartet recording two great names have been added, Conte Candoli on trumpet and Ziggy Vines. The first one, Conte Candoli was a veteran already as he played with Woody Herman and Stan Kenton before. Later he made some great tours with Gerry Mulligan and Shelly Manne, two other well known West Coast musicians. Ziggy Vines remained an obscure musician - in fact this is the only recording he can be heard at lenghth.The two bass players became well known too. Red Mitchell, of course, became a very skilled accompanist and is to be found on, maybe, thousand recordings. Also Leroy Vinnegar became a sought after muscian and played with almost everybody in modern jazz. About the drummer I can only say ... watch his nick name.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

There are several ways to make a film about jazz. It is obvious to start with the documentary, using original shots with the original musicians; colleagues tell their stories about the subject of the film. A good example is Ken Burns's Jazz. That's not the type of film I want to talk about; I want to draw a parallel between films that use actors and do have a story. There are several classical examples, like Hello Dolly or Young Man With A Horn, but I love to introduce you some films that were released in the 1990s like Kansas City, Bird and Round Midnight; Three, complete different, productions I have in my collection.

This third item is about Herbie Hancock's Round Midnight.

Like Bird, Round Midnight wants to create a film about the life of a jazz musician. This time it seems Bud Powell, the bebop piano player. The name of Bud Powell doesn't appear in the film, the central figure Dale Turner isn't even a piano player. Dale Turner, played in an unsurpassed way by Dexter Gordon, is a US sax player, who performs in the Blue Note club in Paris, becomes friends with a French photographer who is able to keep him off from excessive drinking. Due to the fact that this film didn't want to be the a story of the life of one particularry jazz man, elements suggest that in was based on Bud's life.

The acting of Dexter Gordon is great - he doesn't play a role - his appearance is natural and he seems to be a born film actor. The concerts are great, the music arranged by Herbie Hancock, who is the piano player in most scenes, always sound natural and you never have the feeling looking to an arranged scene in a film. Other great names are Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Freddie Hubbard, Cedar Walton and Bobby Hutcherson. The Paris sessions also include great French musicians like Pierre Michelot.

Monday, June 05, 2006

There are several ways to make a film about jazz. It is obvious to start with the documentary, using original shots with the original musicians; colleagues tell their stories about the subject of the film. A good example is Ken Burns's Jazz. That's not the type of film I want to talk about; I want to draw a parallel between films that use actors and do have a story. There are several classical examples, like Hello Dolly or Young Man With A Horn, but I love to introduce you some films that were released in the 1990s like Kansas City, Bird and Round Midnight; Three, complete different, productions I have in my collection.

This second part is about the Clint Eastwood film Bird.

As the jazz in Kansas City was only to support the typically 1930s club atmosphere, in Bird the music is an essential part. Bird tells the story of Charlie Parker, the great alto saxophone player who became a turning point in jazz history.

Forst Whitaker has the physically characteristics of Charlie Parker and in the film he plays the saxophone in a way Parker did. The music however is played by Parker himself. The musical director, Lennie Niehaus, a respected and gifted jazz musician himself, didn't want to use of a duplicate saxophone player who should have to copy Parkers music, so the only way to do was to use the original Parker solos in the film. Thanks to sound engineer Bobby Fernandez, the Parker solos could be isolate from the original recordings; the ensemble parts, however. were played by Charles McPherson.

This, rather depressed film, is a great honour to one our greatest jazzmusicians.

Sunday, June 04, 2006

There are several ways to make a film about jazz. It is obvious to start with the documentary, using original shots with the original musicians; colleagues tell their stories about the subject of the film. A good example is Ken Burns's Jazz. That's not the type of film I want to talk about; I want to draw a parallel between films that use actors and do have a story. There are several classical examples, like Hello Dolly or Young Man With A Horn, but I love to introduce you some films that were released in the 1990s like Kansas City, Bird and Round Midnight; Three, complete different, productions I have in my collection.

This first part is about the Robert Altman film Kansas City.

The story told in the film Kansas City is a thriller about gangsters and the jazz is used as an element with a lot of atmosphere. The musicians in the clubs, dressed like 1930s Kansas City musicians, are real and won their spurs on stage in the 1990s and 2000s so far. The shots of the bands, used in the film. are short and it is good to learn that the complete performances have been used in a documentary, called Robert Altman's Jazz '34 Remembrances of Kansas City Swing.In this documentary you can find the complete performances. The musicans, like Cyrus Chestnut, Nicholas Payton, James Carter, David Fathead Newman and Josua Redman ( to name some musicans I was able to see in a live performancemyself) are playing a role being 1930s Kansas City musicians, but their music is real and it gives a thrilling image of that time. In the 1995 film Kansas City, the musicians play a role, not as an actor, but as part of the story: Geri Allen plays Mary Lou Williams, Chyrus Chestut as Count Basie, Victor Lewis as Jo Jones, Nicholas Payton as Hot Lips Page, David Fathead Newman as Coleman Hawkins, James Carter as Ben Webster and Joshua Redman as Lester Young. Albert J Burnes, an actor, playes the role of a young Charlie Parker.

For me the 1996 Robert Altman Jazz '34 documentary, edited from footage originally shot for the 1995 Robert Altmans Kansas City is a very valuable film that gives me the opportunity to demonstrate the spirit of improvisation and to share my passion of jazz .

Friday, June 02, 2006

I'd love to introduce you to a very nice compilation disc made by the Timeless label, called Now Is The Time ; The central figure is Rein de Graaff, the Dutch bebop piano player.

Rein started to back US solists while visiting Europe and showed that he was able to peform with these skilled musicians. In the book Belevenissen in Bebop written by Coen de Jonge he tells about his numerous tours and recording sessions with musicians like David Fathead Newman, Teddy Edwards, Arnett Cobb and Dexter Gordon. This is only a small selection of the musicians he peformed - the index of the book reads like a who-is-who in jazz music.During the last decade I was so lucky to hear him perform with several of those great musicians: David Fathead Newman and Houston Person performed in 1998 - Johnny Griffin'(2002) and Herb Geller (2002) and Sonny Fortune (2005). - James Spaulding was with the Rein de Graaff Trio in Porgy en Bess - Terneuzen ( The Netherlands) some months ago.This compilation gives nine track with unissued performances from Rein's archive from the 1970s up to some yearsago. Recordings with Tom Kirkpatrick and James Clay, Dexter Gordon, Bob Cooper, Teddy Edward, Charlie Rouse and Bud Shank.For me his performance with Herb Geller is a nice surprise as Herb Geller was with Rein in Porgy and Bess in 2002 with a great concert ( see my concert logs )

Thursday, June 01, 2006

What have the next musicians in common? Fred van Eps, Ted Lewis, Putney Dandridge, Gerry Mulligan, Thelonious Monk or Miles Davis. Well they old recorded at 1 June.

When Jørgen asked me for my birthday I told him about a very famous live performance at Salle Pleyel in Paris of the Gerry Mulligan Quartet. At that date, 1 June 1954 I celebrated my third birthday in my pyamas in our garden with my little brother in the baby-carriage. I was ignorant about what happend at that day in Paris - I'd never heard about Gerry Mulligan or his music.

This concert was part of the Paris Jazz Festival and the Salle Pleyel was packed. The Gerry Mulligan Quartet played without Chet Baker who was replaced by Bob Brookmeyer, the valve tronbone player I told about you some days ago. The rhythm section is Red Michell on bass and Frank Isola on drums. Gerry himself played, of course, his huge bariton saxophone.This live recording was one of my first LPs I bought as a teenager. It was a Vogue double LP I remember and when I hear this music, the snorring baritone and Ísola's brushes it revives this period.It has been one of my favorites concerts - there must have been a time I had this concert on LP, taped on reel to reel, on cassette and on CD. I sold the double LP at a moment that I thought LPs were no longer hip - in a moment of weakness !